Fat Tony

The only Sydney I’m a fan of right now is Sydney Sweeney!

Langdon, Windsor and Billings will be the wingers.

We will see mono. The gap between AFL and VFL is huge.

Hopefully Howes can adapt to the pace and intensity of AFL reasonably quickly. He has the skill and athleticism but he will need to be more desperate than he has shown in the VFL.

My mail is Hunter is struggling. So that’s optimistic.

We played extremely well and had no injuries. Perfect. While our delivery inside 50 was better, we were a bit risky going inside the corridor at times and this cost us several turnover goals. I don't think we have to take a lot more risk with our ball movement than we did last year. We need to be a bit more precise with our final delivery inside 50 and kick straight. Kossie, Fritsch and JVR need to convert better. I still have doubts about Laurie and Schache but we are low on soldiers early in the season. Windsor needs to work on his kicking but is clearly a future player. Tholstrup looked great for 2 possessions. Salem did well in the midfield and exceeded my expectations. Not sure how he fits when Clarrie comes back though.

Hopefully we get salary cap relief for 2024, as well as later years.

There is certainly a bit of Judd in the way he moves, but Judd was 5cm taller and heavier/stronger. Plus Judd was big for a mid when he played but would be only average size today.

Windsor's speed, balance and coordination makes you think we have something special here. He moves like Josh Kelly, Whitfield and Rozee. Hopefully he can get strong enough to play inside the centre square one day.

Disappointing to hear Petty cannot get going again but at least he isn't icing up.

Bowey? I would prefer to leave him at high half back. But with our midfield depth being tested and Brayshaw potentially moving back and Howes possibly coming into defence, we might need to make some adjustments (i.e. ANB might need to be shifted to the midfield).

Bowey is too small to be a mid at AFL level. He does not have the power and agility of someone like Kossie or the strength of Viney. I think Bowey can only play as a high half back or in ANB's role as a high half forward. (His lack of size would be a deficiency on the wing and he is not an absolute elite endurance runner.) If our midfield depth gets tested, I would be much more interested with experimenting with JVR as a centre square midfielder (Gawn in the ruck), with ANB rolling up to play as a midfielder after the centre bounce. Rivers is the other obvious player to go into the midfield more often but he does not run well enough and is a very flexible defender. I see the centre bounce as being extremely important and the need to insert our best players in there. Once the bounce is over, our defensive systems are extremely strong an the risk of conceding scores is much lower. Players like Salem and Bowey would increase the risk of losing clearances.

Salem lacks the size and pace to play inside midfield. High half back is ideal for him because it masks his lack of athleticism and allows him to use his excellent skills and reading of the play. He needs to get his acceleration back this season and be able to kick 50m+ otherwise he will be in the VFL. I like Gus at half back, but we have a lot more options there than in the midfield now. I am also unconvinced the chance of concussion is much different in the midfield than in defence and so I think we will need him back in the engine room. Rivers to the midfield makes sense given our lack of options, but he might not have the running ability to play four quarters. Pickett and ANB are others who will need to play more midfield minutes this year.

Jordon is a capable AFL player. Laurie has not shown that yet and he has none of the athletic traits to have strong belief he will be good enough.

I think we missed a trick not playing Disco Turner earlier in the season in 2023. I hope he is given the opportunity to start the year in the AFL in 2024. I think he has all the ingredients to be a very good player.

Howes has two years on his contract, so 2024 is probably not make or break. He looks very classy at times in the VFL but he needs to get stronger and show a bit more desperation in the contest to be ready for AFL (which is probably also related to his lack of strength). I think he will make a good AFL player but he has a lot of competition, albeit B-grade competition on the flanks and wings.

I just spoke to the club and they are about to send out an email with barcodes for Gather Round.

Another ruckman would make more sense IMO. I am not sure Hore has the pace and agility required and he kicks the ball without sufficient penetration. That said, our recruiters must see something I don't and they are often correct.

Ran 6.17 for the 2km time trial which was 10th at the Draft Combine. I think he’s actually a decent runner.

We have seen how important the wing position is in modern footy, particularly on the MCG. He looks to be a very skilful and speedy wingman with a big leap.

Our existing small forwards are B graders except for Kossie.

Summary: West Coast will take the No. 1 pick into draft night as North Melbourne's hopes of claiming Harley Reid fade. The deadline for clubs to swap picks has been reached, meaning clubs can't do any deals until the first night of the draft on November 20. The Kangaroos and Demons have made multiple efforts to strike a deal with West Coast on pick one in a bid to keep Reid in Victoria. West Coast is set on taking the powerful Tongala midfielder after North Melbourne's surprise last-round win over Gold Coast handed West Coast the No. 1 pick. The draft will be held across two nights on November 20-21. West Coast also has picks 23 and 37 and could snare next generation academy livewire Lance Collard at pick 23 amid clubs fears Collard could become homesick in Victoria. Collard is rated a top-15 player on talent but the man who has been likened to Collingwood’s Bobby Hill could slide to West Coast’s second pick. Geelong has pick eight and has attracted interest from North Melbourne in the Roos’ bid to move up the order. Essendon’s pick nine has also been targeted by clubs who have picks in the teens and want to jump up the order.

Harley Reid, a highly anticipated draft prospect in the AFL, is almost certain to play for West Coast in 2024. Rival clubs are racing to offer the Eagles an out-of-this-world deal to trade the No.1 draft pick and get first access to Reid, who is seen as a clone of three-time Norm Smith medallist Dustin Martin. The Eagles have not had any proposals from other clubs that were yet to catch their eye, despite several being interested. The picks only trade period ends on Friday, leaving only opening draft night on November 20 for a deal to go through. North Melbourne and Melbourne have been the key players offering at least two deals to get a trade done with the Eagles, including an offer of pick 2 and two of their late first-round selections (15, 17, or 18) for 1 and 23. Melbourne have also come hard for the pick, putting forward 6, 11, 42 and a future first-rounder for just pick No.1. Both deals have not made the Eagles move, making it more likely than unlikely that the wooden spooners will hold onto the pick. Tongala prodigy Reid is almost certain to head West, having long been touted as the best prospect in this year's draft. Reid will automatically sign a three-year deal instead of the previously normal two-year contract under the new CBA rules, giving West Coast strong bargaining power should he request a trade back to Victoria. This will be the third time the Eagles have used the No.1 pick, having previously picked up dual premiership player Drew Banfield (1992) and former All-Australian ruckman Michael Gardiner (1996). However, the Eagles are likely to buck the minor trend unless they pull a shock move and pick Tigers utility Daniel Curtin with the first pick in the draft. Curtin is almost certain to be picked inside the first half a dozen selections and was invited to the first night of the draft alongside Subiaco forward Koltyn Tholstrup.

We would want more than a future first for #6 but we should definitely consider any trade which gives a better long-term result.

Professional scouting is no where near as good as you suggest. Take a look at the current top 50 players in the AFL (https://www.statsinsider.com.au/sport-hub/afl/player-ratings) and where they were drafted. The draft will always be very inefficient because we select players when their bodies are not yet mature and junior footy is so much inferior to AFL. Rank Player Draft Pick 3 Lachie Neale 58 4 Zach Merrett 26 5 Zak Butters 12 7 Jordan Dawson 56 8 James Sicily 56 9 Toby Greene 11 10 Charlie Curnow 12 12 Jack Sinclair Rookie 18 Patrick Cripps 13 19 Jai Newcombe Mid Season 22 Shai Bolton 29 23 Dan Houston Rookie 25 Tom Stewart 40 26 Max Gawn 34 28 Tim English 19 29 Rowan Marshall Rookie 31 Chad Warner 39 32 Sam Taylor 28 37 Touk Miller 29 38 Rory Laird Rookie 40 Bailey Dale 45 41 Luke Parker 40 43 Jarrod Witts 67 45 Charlie Cameron Rookie 50 Zac Bailey 15